It is the major dance number in the film and is about John Lawless trying to get Angie Duke drunk, so he can reconcile with his ex-fiancé, Cordy Biddle, who has other plans for his life.
Lyrics[]
John:
Well, well, well
"Let's have a drink on it"
As me father used to say
When the truth is nobly spoken
Its respect you got to pay
So fill your cup and lift it up
And clink, here's how
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!
(Angie gets the idea to leave Philadelphia and join the foreign legion.)
John:
Well, well, well
"Let's have a drink on it"
To the fightin' legionaries!
To their outposts in the desert
And their gorgeous Croix de Guerres
Angie:
To sailing for Bengasi
On a rusty scow!
John:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!
Both:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!!!
(Angie leaves to go to Bengasi.)
John:
(spoken)
I can't let him get away!
We'll never get things patched up!
Sir!
A moment of your time, sir!
Just a moment!
What do you do when the water's gone
And there's no turning back?
You're four days from the fort
The Arab renegades attack!
And the blistering sun keeps burning
Reinforcement can't come through
What do you do about it?
What do you do about it?!
(spoken)
Do you blister easily?
Angie:
(spoken)
Yes, as a matter of fact.
John:
(spoken)
Ah, the foreign legion is not for you. Drink up.
(Angie gets the idea to renounce his name and fortune and become a regular person.)
John:
Well, well, well
"Let's have a drink on it"
To the simple average life!
To wages every Friday
That you bring home to the wife!
To the sweat of honest labor
On your average brow
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!
John, Angie, and Chorus:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!!!
John:
(spoken)
Hey! Set 'em up, Clancy!
Chorus:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!
(Angie goes out to make a new name for himself.)
John:
What do you do when you lose your job?
The rent is overdue?
The landlord throws you in the street
The wife, the kiddies, too!
And the sleet and snow are falling
And you got no place to go?
(Man starts crying)
(spoken)
Will you shut your face!?
Can't you see I'm talking to the gentleman!?
What do you do about it?
What do you do about it?!
(spoken)
The simple, average life, sir. No.
(Angie decides to go off to China and make a fortune in the pearl trade.)
Angie:
Well, well, well
"Let's have a drink on it"
Here's to China 'cross the bay
To them darling little oysters
And the pearls they give away!
A man could make his fortune there
I will somehow!
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
I'm off to China now!
Chorus:
No shilly-shallying
No dillydallying
He's off to China now!!!
John:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have another one, Sir!!!
Chorus:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying!
(musical interlude)
Angie:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
I'm off to China now!
Chorus
Well, well, well,
One last drink on it
Then you're on your merry way!
John:
What do you do when your sampan springs a leak in China Bay?
Chorus:
When the truth is nobly spoken
It's respect you got to pay
John:
Them Oriental Pirates come and take your pearls away!
Chorus:
So fill your cup and lift it up
And clink, here's how
John:
(spoken)
Do you eat fish heads?
Chorus:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!
John:
(Spoken) Are you immune to yellow fever?
Chorus:
No shilly-shallying
No dilly-dallying
Let's have a drink on it now!!!
John:
(Spoken during the singing)
Bubonic Plague!
Monsoons!
Locusts!
The Screaming abdabs!
Oh, the shame of it all!
